Tony Hawk's Project 8Review

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The latest from Neversoft almost nails the trick, but bails at the last moment.

By Hilary Goldstein

Any series that lasts through eight iterations is certain to have creative peaks and valleys. For Neversoft's Tony Hawk series, the best of times were represented in THPS 2 & 3 with its roughest patch coming during the THUG years. With Undergound a thing of the past and with the promise shown in last year's American Wasteland, it appeared the Tony Hawk series was back on the upswing. Tony Hawk's Project 8 features a brand new engine, built from the ground up specifically for next-gen consoles, and, unfortunately, proves that while the series has plenty of potential, Neversoft may have run out of gas.

Join Project 8 Set in an expansive city that features no in-game load times and the ability to trick a line through all ten zones (should you have the skill), this is the first truly open skating city. Once each area is unlocked, you can go anywhere, anytime and pick any objective your heart desires.

Your goal is to rise from your sad #200 ranking among amateur skaters and crack the top eight. Every secret token found, gap crossed, and challenge beaten propels your created skater up the rankings. Complete enough challenges and you'll enter the Birdman's elite Project 8.

Size Matters The large cityscape is seamless in its construction and every goal is well-integrated into the level design. Skate up to any highlighted character to engage in specific challenges, including the re-modeled Classic Mode, which now works within the structure of the Career Mode. That's right, instead of having to play classic two-minute Tony Hawk challenges in a separate mode, you can now do so in the middle of the city. In fact, completing the ten challenges in each Classic zone can go a long way to boosting your rankings.

You'll also come across plenty of graffiti in the streets. This isn't just worthless scrawl. There are "Owned" graffiti tags from rival skaters which, when touched, initiate an instant challenge. Follow the illuminated trick line as long as possible to take back ownership of the area. More interesting are the numerous spot challenges. You can't skate more than a few yards without seeing a spot challenge spray-painted on the ground or on a wall. Some require a grind to see how far you can make it without bailing. Others test your manual skills and, more importantly, your (wo)manhood. Finding and mastering these challenges is almost as intense as hunting down gaps.

The majority of skill contests have three possible rankings: Amateur, Pro and Sick. You can get to Project 8 by mastering the Amateur level of difficulty on challenges. This is a cake walk and even the Pro difficulty is pretty easy. The only real test of your skating prowess is nabbing Sick ratings. Some of these are incredibly difficult and may even push true T-Hawk vets to the limit.

The only time a ranking is not involved is when you face one of the ten Pro Challenges. Some of the best vert and street skaters have specific skill tests. While a few of the old guard come into play, including fan-fave Bob Burnquist, the majority of the pros are newer stars. The young (and ridiculously talented) Ryan Sheckler heads up a list that includes Paul Rodriguez, Jr., Nyjah Huston and Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins. Bam Margera shows up in the Slums. Fitting.

Not only are there challenges all around, but every grind, manual and big air matters. Instead of spending stat points, this year all stats are improved based on your gameplay. The more feet you grind, the faster your stat improves. This provides added encouragement to trick while heading towards the next challenge marker.

Design on a Dime All of this is fine and dandy and, with the right level design, could make for a decent entry in Activision's long-running series. But, the level design in Project 8 is lacking. Suburbia, The Factory, The School -- we've seen these same areas before, but done much, much better in other versions of Tony Hawk. None of the areas pop with energy or vitality, despite being populated with random skaters and pedestrians. The lines in Project 8 are so obvious they might as well come with a neon sign. You can, quite literally, take air and hit Y and be almost certain to grind something by the time you reach the ground. As long as you can maintain your balance, you can easily pull off long lines.

One of the keys to Tony Hawk's longevity has been Neversoft's ingenuity in level design. Project 8 feels like an exhalation, as if Neversoft is saying, "Well, we're tapped out." Even the fun park isn't much fun. The pirate ship is bland, the roller coaster only decent. The Slums are truly the pits, with little flair and a reliance on some cheap airs boosts to make things more thrilling. This isn't to say that the game world has nothing to offer, just that it just feels uninspired.

Tony Hawk lives and dies by its design and this is one of Neversoft's weakest. It's possible that creating one large cohesive world has too greatly limited the developer's creativity. The integration of the goals into the levels is top-notch, but the levels themselves are fairly average.